The Saint Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russian: Санкт-Петербургское отделение Российской академии наук), official acronym SPBRAS[1] (more natural would be SPbB RAS, Russian: СПбО РАН) is the fourth territorial branch of the Academy established in 2023 by the Decree of the Government of Russia signed by its Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

The idea to create an additional branch was promoted by the Nobel prize laureate Zhores Alferov during many years until his death in 2019.

Later, in 2022 this idea was approved by the general meeting of the Academy[3] and finally by the Russian state authorities.

According to the decision, the St. Petersburg branch should be engaged in participation and conduct of fundamental and exploratory scientific research, forecasting the main directions of development of St. Petersburg, the Leningrad Region and, to some extent, Russia as a whole from the point of view of the scientific sphere.

The office of the SPBRAS is located in the historical building (s. photo) in the Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg.